A Phaser Blast to the Present
by stars90
Summary: Sequel to A Phaser Blast From the Past. In the wake of PBFP, the Federation finds itself on the brink of war with the Romulan Empire. The Enterprise is ordered on a desperate and dangerous mission to try and head off the conflict before it begins. But the Romulans are determined to keep them from succeeding, and to stop them, they'll pull a dirty card from the Captain's past...
1. Chapter 1

Dr. Leonard McCoy sat in a chair in _Enterprise_'s mess hall, feeling both annoyed and (secretly) amused at the raucous source of amusement both his scowl and the statement which had caused it were providing to his dining companions. Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott was chortling over his plate of Haggis (the plate being the far more disturbing of the two sights to the doctor), while Lieutenant Nyota Uhura was gripping the table to keep from sliding off her chair in between her giggles. While he knew Commander Spock would rather jump into a live volcano than laugh out loud (the former being from painful experience), McCoy knew the Vulcan well enough to see the laughter in that blasted eyebrow.

"Don't go putting words in my mouth you pointy-eared hobgoblin!"

"I do not believe I took any such action, Doctor. Furthermore considering the non-physical nature of words I would find said action most difficult had I any desire to undertake it. I merely stated the comparison between your expressions upon learning of Captain Kirk's priority summons to Starfleet headquarters and the Ilvarian announcement of their intention to execute him."

"Yeah, well at least the Ilvarians were honest about it."

As Scotty and Uhura broke into another round of guffaws Spock simply regarded him with the eyebrow.

McCoy was saved from another scathingly logical retort by the whistle of the intercom.

"_Bridge to Spock._"

All four turned to look at the wall unit that sounded with the voice of Uhura's second, Carolyn Palmer. Spock rose to his feet and moved towards it.

"Spock here."

"_Mr. Spock, the Captain is on his way back from the surface. He's commed us with orders to get the ship ready for emergency departure."_

McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura looked at each other worriedly. An urgent summons to Starfleet command followed by emergency departure? That never meant anything good. Spock, as usual, was unflappable.

"Status of shore parties, Lieutenant?"

"_Most crewmen were already back onboard awaiting our new orders. Captain Kirk reported that he was rounding up the remainder of the shore party to return on his shuttle."_

"Issue emergency departure warnings to all departments and call all hands to stations. I am on my way to the bridge."

"_Acknowledged, sir."_

Spock turned and strode briskly out the door, his three friends on his heels.

* * *

McCoy stood on the bridge, watching the crew at their posts. After checking in with sickbay to ensure they had everything on hand, McCoy had come up to the bridge and was watching the controlled chaos as he awaited Jim's return.

It occurred to him that it was a good thing Sam had left the previous day. The last thing the Kirk brothers needed was for their time together to be interrupted prematurely without warning. Their two days together before Sam had had to return to Deneva had been a whirlwind of stories from their years apart. It wasn't anywhere near all the healing their relationship needed, but it was an excellent beginning. They'd parted with promises to talk when they could and for Jim to come meet Sam's wife and child at some point soon. McCoy had liked the effect the reconciliation had had on Jim- he could've sworn he could see one or two inches of the shadows under his friend's eyes receding.

_Speak of the devil. _McCoy snapped out of his reverie as the starboard side doors opened and Jim Kirk burst onto the bridge in a blaze of his own personal brand of type-A personality. Yet something was off. Kirk was usually a bundle of energy, but long experience allowed McCoy to read the agitation in his walk, in the way he put one foot in front of the other as though he was racing to keep ahead of something he couldn't outrun.

"Status, Mr. Spock."

"All stations ready for departure, Captain."

Kirk nodded to Spock's report as he passed him on his way to the command chair the Vulcan had just vacated. Rather than sitting down, though, Kirk remained standing next to the right arm of the chair and turned back to look at his communications officer.

"Lt. Uhura, Spacedock?"

The slim woman turned to answer the question. "Yard control signals ready, Captain."

McCoy could see something in Jim, in the way Jim seemed to stand a little straighter. There was another recent development in his friend's life Leonard was happy with. He'd long suspected there might be some deeper feelings there for the confident and beautiful communications specialist, but he didn't really want to butt in, especially given his own past experience with romance. But he had noticed the quiet strength his friend had drawn from her during the mess with his stepfather. He could see the almost imperceptible smile in his eyes whenever she walked into the room. The doctor just hoped it kept going.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Mr. Sulu," Kirk turned to the helm, "retract all moorings."

"Aye sir."

The long docking clamps tethering _Enterprise_ to Spacedock pulled away. Under Sulu's expert hand the majestic starship pulled away from the dock and slid smoothly into open space.

"We are free and clear to maneuver."

"Thank you, Mr. Sulu. Mr. Chekov, plot a course for the Azure nebula."

McCoy could see several spines straighten at the mention of their destination. He wondered what the hype was about. After all, he was a doctor, not a navigator.

"Course plotted, sir."

"Laid in, Captain."

"Warp 6, Mr. Sulu. Punch it."

On Kirk's order, _Enterprise _shot off into warp, leaving Earth far behind.

"All senior staff to the briefing room. Lt. Uhura, contact Mr. Scott to join us."

Five minutes later the senior officers were ensconced around the conference table, looking to their captain for answers.

"As you're all aware diplomatic talks have been ongoing with the Romulan Star Empire in order to settle the issue of our little tap dance with those birds of prey. Starfleet has just informed me that the talks appear to be breaking down. Command is anticipating an outbreak of hostilities sometime soon."

A stunned silence greeted Jim's announcement. The last Romulan war of a century earlier had been a veritable bloodbath. Nobody wanted to guess what a new conflict could inflict.

"Vhy now?" piped in Chekov.

Spock as usual jumped in to field the question. "As you may recall, Mr. Chekov, Starfleet operations and tactical readiness have been somewhat hindered by the separate actions of Nero, Admiral Marcus, and Khan. A Romulan attack at the current time will find them facing a weakened Starfleet."

Not a pretty thought at all….

"Exactly, Mr. Spock. Starfleet is doing its utmost to prepare for the upcoming conflict."

Jim's words did not sit well with Leonard at all. "Hang on a minute! You sound as though Starfleet has already decided this war is going to happen! There must be some hope to stop it!"

Jim turned to me with a weary smile that scared me right down to the bone.

"Hope, yes. One hope, in fact. And therein lies our mission. We are the one hope Starfleet sees as a realistic possibility for averting this conflict."

Whoa. No pressure. Now McCoy knew where the heaviness he'd seen in Jim had come from.

"With all respect to Starfleet, what is our destination that our mission could possibly effect such an outcome on a large Romulan war effort, sir?" came the question from Spock.

Jim regarded us with that spine tingling smile, the one that he used whenever he was getting to the punch line of a joke- usually at our expense.

"An old stomping ground of ours, Mr. Spock."

That smug little midget was enjoying this. Damn him.

"The Klingon homeworld."


	2. Chapter 2

Jim wasn't sure just what it said about his ship that having all of his senior officers looking at him as though he'd just sprouted a second head wearing Khan's face felt completely normal. Although, under the circumstances, he supposed he could understand it. Predictably, the first explosion came from McCoy.

"Starfleet's sending us back to Kronos! Are they out of their minds! Why would they want us to go there?"

"With the fleet in its current state we just don't have the firepower to hold off the full firepower of the Romulan fleet. Starfleet feels our only realistic option is to gain allies."

"And that means sending _you_ to talk to the Klingons!? How is that going to get us anything other than a dead Captain?"

"Actually Doctor, the decision to send Captain Kirk is logical. The Klingons will demand a full accounting of our actions during our previous mission to Kronos before they would even consider forming an alliance. Their code of honor would see our any representative other than Captain Kirk as an admission of our guilt. However, the logic by which Starfleet Command believes the Klingon Empire will accept any kind of alliance with the Federation escapes me."

"Under normal circumstances you'd be right, Spock. But Nero hit the Klingon Defense Force even harder than he hit Starfleet. We lost 11 ships, they lost 47. With the Romulans seeing Nero's attack as an opportunity to escalate their aggression, Starfleet feels this may be the best time to push the Klingons for peace, for both of our sakes."

"How are we going to get near the High Council?"

"Already taken care of, Mr. Sulu. Starfleet and the Diplomatic Corps have secured us an audience. The _Enterprise _will rendezvous with a Klingon Battle Cruiser at the Azure nebula. They'll escort us to Kronos. Once there, the ship will remain outside the system while a landing party proceeds to the planet via shuttlecraft."

"Shuttlecraft!? You mean you won't even have the _Enterprise _close by if something goes wrong!?"

"Mr. Scott, we'll be on the Klingon Homeworld, the most heavily fortified location within the Empire. If something were to go wrong, what exactly would having the _Enterprise _there accomplish?"

A heavy silence met Kirk's rebuke.

"The Klingons have guaranteed the _Enterprise _safe passage out of Klingon territory once our meeting is resolved."

"And you, sir?"

Kirk smiled sardonically. "That depends on the outcome of the meeting Mr. Sulu."

To Kirk's utter astonishment, nobody appeared particularly comforted by this nugget of wisdom.

"So our 'best chance' for preventing a war is for you to persuade the Klingon High Council that you didn't massacre their men right before you ask them to stand with the Federation against the Romulans?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

There was a pregnant pause before McCoy finished his statment.

"We are soooo dead."

* * *

The meeting had ended over six hours before. The _Enterprise _was cruising through space eight hours from its rendezvous at the Azure nebula. The silence of the starship's night shift seemed to mock Nyota Uhura as she made her way through the corridors. It was almost as though the ship itself was in mourning for her yet-to-be-dead Captain. As she entered the door of the forward observation deck, she longed for a break from the oppressive quiet. Fortunately, there was nobody in the universe better suited for staving off quiet than the person Uhura had come here looking for.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself."

"What's up?"

She said nothing.

"Hey, don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Worry."

Her eyes flashed, and Jim winced. Not so much for the anger, he was used to that from her. But the fury wasn't enough to hold back the tears welling up in her rich brown eyes.

"How can you ask me that? You want me to just be fine with you just handing yourself off to the _Klingons_? After what happened with them before? It's going to take some fast talking just to get them not to kill you on sight, and even if you get past that there's no guarantee they won't just do it anyway later."

"Your pep-talks could use some work."

Far from making her laugh, this just horrified her to the point of making her look desperate. "Do you even care? Does it matter to you that the odds are pretty good you won't come back from this mission?"

Kirk turned to the window and stared out in silence. Horrified, Nyota recoiled and turned around to leave.

"More than before."

The words stopped her cold. She couldn't risk turning back, not yet, so she simply stayed where she was and turned her head slightly back towards him.

"What?"

Jim sighed. "I've gone on missions like this dozens of times. Ok, not like _this_…" he quickly interjected at Nyota's amused but teary stare, "but I'm no stranger to the likelihood of death. The prospect has never really bothered me. Not since…" He didn't finish. He didn't need to.

"But this time I'm having a little bit of a harder time dealing with the idea that if I don't come back from that planet I'm never going to see you again."

Uhura bit down on her bottom lip, hoping against hope that if she bit down just a little bit harder it might help her keep a tighter rein on her emotions for what was coming next.

"Well then it's a good thing you won't need to worry about that since I'm coming with you."

Jim turned his head to her sharply. "Excuse me."

Nyota just raised her eyebrow in a silent, "you heard me."

"Over my dead body."

"Yeah, I noticed that was what you were going for with this trip."

Kirk just glared.

"Jim, you took me on the last trip because I speak Klingon. I speak their language and I know their culture."

"Yeah, and look how that turned out."

"Well, that was done out of desperation. This time it'll be far more important. It's the whole basis of this mission."

"Nyota, if you come with me, I can't be sure that you're going to come back."

This earned him the patented Uhura 'either you think I'm dumb or you're patronizing me because I'm a woman and either one will get you in trouble' look. Kirk rolled over his misstep to make his point.

"I know you can handle that, I've never for one minute doubted it. It's my being able to handle it I'm worried about."

Uhura reached up to touch his cheek, trying to make it clear that she understood where he was coming from and still thought it was kind of sweet despite the fact that she was having none of it. "We agreed when we started this that it would never affect the job, and knowing you, I don't think that's how it's going to turn out. You've always been hyperaware of the safety of people going into danger with you, even when they were complete strangers. I'm not going to let you go down there with less of a chance of coming back because you're afraid. It's okay to be afraid. It's _natural_ to be afraid. Never really feeling fear for your own life is just one more effect those two damned men had on you. You're always more careful when there are others around you, you exercise more judgment. Well guess what buster, I want you back from that planet, and if I have to come with you to make sure that happens, that's what I'm going to do."

Kirk stared at her for several seconds, just stared and stared, his eyes wide as if he were something wondrous he'd never seen before which might disappear if he closed his eyes.

"Now that that's settled," Uhura went on, rolling right over any attempt he might make to object further, "do you actually have any sort of plan as to how you're going to convince the high council to ally with the Federation?"

"Um-" Jim started lamely, having been left behind in the dirt by the abrupt turn in the conversation but picking it up quickly, "I have a few thoughts, but nothing totally concrete just yet."

"Well then, run what you've got by me and let's see what we can come up with."

With that, Uhura turned and waked over to one of the couches in the center of the room. Jim reluctantly set his desire to argue the case further aside, knowing he would come back to it again later and knowing he would lose again, and plopped himself down on the couch next to her, and the two stayed like that for hours submerging themselves in the psyche of those into whose hands they were about to surrender their lives.

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	3. Chapter 3

Jim showed up on the bridge the next morning to find Spock, Bones and Uhura huddled around the communication station, talking softly. Alarm bells ringing, Jim strode over to the knot of people closest to him.

"Problem, people?"

The trio turned sharply, having been taken off guard by his approach. This had Jim's teeth further on edge. If whatever this was had Spock not detecting his approach, something serious must be up. The three looked at each other, obviously taking a silent vote on who was going to break whatever information they had to Jim. Apparently Spock won (or lost, depending on your perspective) for he began to speak.

"Perhaps this conversation is best had in private. "

Jim raised his arm and waved in the direction of the door leading off to the corridor containing, among other things, his ready room. The three officers followed him off the bridge and into his private office. Jim stopped in front of the desk and turned to face the three officers.

"Well?"

"We received a notification from Starfleet approximately 43 minutes ago, Captain. It appears Frank Garson suffered an unexpected heart attack last night. He did not survive."

Wow. That was… Wow. Jim didn't quite know how to feel about this. On the one hand, a universe without Frank in it was not by any means an unpleasant idea. On the other, there was a part of Jim, a part that he'd been struggling throughout his life to keep from being pushed to the background, somethiBothng he'd been having a little more success with in recent years, which felt distinctly uncomfortable at the idea of being happy at anyone's death. Even Frank's. It felt like an integral part of himself, as well as something which differentiated him from people like his stepfather.

He was aware of his friends looking at him, and seized on the first thing that made some kind of sense of his jumbled feelings, even if it wasn't necessarily exactly what he was thinking.

"Figures Frank would find a way out of paying his penance."

McCoy snorted. "Seems like the kind of guy he was. Listen, Jim, are you sure you want to do this so soon after-"

Jim brought up his hand to forestall the end of the question. "Bones, listen. This is not a question of what I want. This has to be done. Moreover, I'm not exactly devastated by this piece of news. It's a bit of a shock, but nothing too extreme."

Both the doctor and Uhura searched his face for a moment, before his features relaxed, seemingly satisfied that Jim wasn't just trying to placate him.

"Well, now that that's out of the way-"

"Bridge to Captain Kirk." Interrupted Sulu's voice.

Jim reached over to the intercom. "Go ahead, Mr. Sulu."

"We're approaching the Azure Nebula."

The four shared a look.

"Take us out of warp. We're on our way."

The four friends strode out and down the hall to the bridge.

"Report," Jim called out as they each headed for their posts, the doctor taking up his customary position behind and to the right of the Captain's chair. Chekov spoke up to field his question.

"Ve're holding position tventy million kilometers from the perimeter of the nebula, sir. Sensors are reading von other wessel thirty thousand kilometers to port. It is a Klingon D-7 class Battlecruiser."

"Tactical status?"

Carol spoke up from her sensor station. "They have their shields raised and a weapons lock on us, but they haven't armed their disruptors."

Jim nodded, having expected as much. "Alright, Chekov keep our own shields up. Uhura, hailing frequency."

A pair of 'Aye, sir's later a scowling Klingon visage appeared on the viewscreen.

"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the _Starship Enterprise_ representing the United Federation of Planets."

"I am Captain Kang of the Klingon Warship _Muk'tong_. We are here to escort you through our territory per the agreement between our governments. You will make no attempt to arm weapons. If you do, we will destroy you."

With that pronouncement Kang's face vanished to be replaced with the image of the dagger-shaped warship turning, waiting for _Enterprise _toproceed in front of them.

"Friendly as ever," McCoy commented wryly.

Jim snorted. "Carol, keep an eye on their weapons systems, make sure they don't get trigger happy. Mr. Chekov, lay in a course for Qo'nos."

"Course plotted, Keptin."

"Warp 6, Mr. Sulu."

"Aye, Captain."

Sulu's hand grasped the lever on the left side of his helm console and slid it forward. The stars on the screen blurred as the _Enterprise _shot forward, headed for one of the deadliest stars she knew.

* * *

Less than hour later, the _Enterprise _and the _Muk'tong _dropped out of warp near the Qo'nos system's Oort Cloud to meet a pair of Birds-of-Prey.

"I'm guessing those are our escort."

"Most likely, Captain."

Jim raised himself out of his command chair and turned to Spock.

"The ship is yours, Mr. Spock. No matter what happens down there, you keep the _Enterprise _outside the system. If she crosses the boundary the agreement guaranteeing safe passage is null and void. The ship is your priority, Mr. Spock, not us, is that clear?"

"Perfectly, Captain."

Jim gave a wan smile. "Good." He gave a quick look around the bridge before settling his gaze on Uhura.

"Lieutenant, you're with me."

"Aye, sir." As the two headed for the starboard side doors leading off the bridge McCoy called them back.

"Jim."

The two turned just in front of the opening doors.

"Be careful."

The two men locked eyes for a couple of seconds before Jim gave a tiny nod and turned away. Bones caught Nyota's eye before she could turn and sent a silent message through his eyes.

_Take care of him._

Acknowledging the message with a slow blink, Uhura turned and set off to follow her Captain into the Lion's den.

* * *

Commander Al'tara stood in the dark lighting of his bridge, projecting an aura of calm anticipation for his crew at the surrounding stations. His first officer, Subcommander Sortal, turned away from the communication station and came over to him, opening as per protocol with the traditional hand-over-chest salute of the Romulan military.

"Commander, we have received a message from the contact. _Enterprise_'s shuttle has just left for Qo'nos."

The commander gave a predatory smile. "So, the time draws near. Soon, we shall have the 2 largest impediments to Romulan expansion by the throats. That is," the commander amended, turning to the shape of their special guest standing off in the shadows at the back of the bridge, "if you are truly capable of delivering that which you promise."

The low lighting rendered it difficult to make out the facial expression of their guest, but Al'tara had the distinct impression the man was smirking.

"Don't worry, Commander. I will be able to get you the information you require, if you provide me with what I want."

Al'tara kept his expression blank, although he found it difficult to keep from rolling his eyes.

_Are all humans so obsessed with stating the obvious?_

"And besides," the guest went on, and this time Al'tara _knew _he was smiling, the smile he himself was wearing, that of a predator regarding his prey.

"I'm looking forward to seeing James Kirk again."

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	4. Chapter 4

**So sorry or the long wait! RL and lack of my muse have been pretty intense. Here's the next chapter!**

Kirk and Uhura walked strode through the double doors under the watchful eyes of their guards. Both officers' eyes examined the Great Hall of the Klingon High Council. It was a dark room, lit primarily by fiery torches mounted on long poles, which also gave the room the heat the Klingons were so fond of. The room itself was not huge, only about 1 and a half times the length of the longest stretch of the _Enterprise _Bridge. A rectangular shape, the doors the two Starfleeters came in was at one of the shorter sides. Across the hall mounted on the wall was the trefoil symbol of the Klingon Empire painted blood red on the wall. In front of that wall lay a pair of tables with accompanying seating positioned in a V shape, with a more ornate throne at the vertex. As the two humans walked in, they could hear muffled grumbling from several in the hall, but aside from that they were brought in with little fanfare.

"_Time to get this show on the road." _Jim thought to himself as he came to a stop outside of the V but facing the Chancellor on the throne. Remembering the protocols he and Nyota had gone over the previous night, he began to announce himself in a booming drawl.

"I AM CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK OF THE _U.S.S._ _ENTERPRISE_ REPRESENTING THE UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS! I HAVE COME ON A MISSION URGENT TO THE WELFARE OF BOTH OUR PEOPLES!

The chancellor raised an eyebrow in contemplation of him, as though Kirk was doing the right thing but hadn't been expected to. He proceeded to respond to Kirk's pronouncement.

"Captain Kirk, you demonstrate courage coming before this council after your last encounter with our people, where you invaded our homeworld and killed several dozen of our soldiers."

"_Whoo, here goes nothing. Hope they don't pick up on how much of a lie at least part of this is."_

"Courage is only required when facing that which you fear Chancellor. I cannot believe a body as wise as this one will not be able to understand the circumstances surrounding my earlier visit to your world."

"HAHAHA!" came the belly laugh from a Klingon sitting at the table on Kirk and Uhura's right. "The human talks fast to save himself. Do you think he will start mewling if we take the female and under a _Bat'leth_ and-"

"I think you'll find _taking_ this female a little harder than you might expect, counselor." Nyota cut in, knowing that not to do so would demonstrate weakness to the Klingons. The Klingon opened his mouth for a snide reply before-

"_MEV'YAP!" _shouted the chancellor with a glare at the bellicose councilor. "We have given our word of honor, Ja'rod that we will hear his words, and this we _shall_ do!"

The councilor, apparently named Ja'rod, threw his hands up in a gesture of mock supplication. The chancellor only scowled and turned back to Kirk.

"Make no mistake, Captain. The Klingon Empire takes the invasion of our world by armed Starfleet officers and the deaths of our citizens VERY seriously. Your superiors were wise in sending you to be the deliverers of this message, as anyone else would have been and admission of guilt and killed on sight. However, your tale had better be a good one if you expect to walk out of this hall with your head still attached."

Not particularly pleased with Councilor Ja'rod's comment directed at Uhura but not nearly stupid enough to make an issue of it just then, Kirk began to speak. He told the High Council of the attack on a Starfleet facility and then on the meeting convened to discuss it. He told them of the discovery that the man responsible had fled to the Klingon homeworld. He explained the orders from Admiral Marcus sending the _Enterprise_ to fire torpedoes at Qo'nos (he had to interrupt at this point to allow the Chancellor to quell the outrage from the council and for he to then assure them that all would be explained). He told them of his decision to violate those orders and take a landing party to Qo'nos instead. He outlined their discovery by the Klingon patrol and how they were attempting to explain the situation when the man they were searching for attacked. He explained that at that point his people had fought Klingons in defense of their lives, but that the massacre had been done by that criminal. He relayed the fugitive's surrender and his identity as old Earth war criminal Khan Noonien Singh, along with his followers hidden in the torpedoes sent to the _Enterprise_. He told of the arrival of Admiral Marcus and the pursuit to Earth, of the attack by _Vengeance _against the _Enterprise_, of the effort by Kirk to enlist Khan's help to disable the experimental warship, of how Khan killed Marcus and commandeered the vessel and crashed it into San Francisco after Kirk's crew defeated his ship, and how he'd then been captured in the streets. (He decided on leaving out certain details such as his death, but figured that the only impact this might have on the Klingons anyway would be to depress them with the part where it didn't last).

When Kirk at last finished his tale after a quarter of an hour, he fell silent awaiting a reaction from his audience. The chancellor rose from his throne and strode to Kirk, looking the Captain directly in the eye for a brief moment before speaking.

"This Khan killed someone close to you Captain. Who?"

Jim swallowed, wanting nothing more than to tell this Klingon that that was none of his business, but he knew that would never fly right now. And if that was what he needed to say to convince the Klingons of his sincerity, what more fitting tribute to Chris could there possibly be?

"Admiral Christopher Pike was killed in the attack on the staff meeting at Starfleet HQ. He was the man who convinced me to join Starfleet, and who persuaded them to give me a command." Kirk said firmly, employing all his willpower to keep the struggle for the words out of his voice.

The chancellor narrowed his eyes for a moment as he kept his gaze locked with Kirk's, before grinning and turning away. "Very well. I believe you."

The council was in an uproar. Councilors shouted back and forth, half of them calling for the chancellor's brain to be checked (this being the most polite among the objections) while the other half began arguing in favor of the chancellor's declaration. Jim and Uhura both noted distinctly the figure of Councilor Ja'rod among the most prominent of those against the chancellor. All of the bellowing however, came to an abrupt halt with the loud banging of the chancellor's staff on the floor as he sat back upon his throne.

"Silence! Kirk speaks the truth, one need only look in his eyes to see it! This man was a renegade and the Captain will not be executed for opposing another renegade to stop him!"

Many of the councilors were clearly not happy with this pronouncement, but none apparently were brave enough to speak of it openly, so the chancellor turned back to Kirk.

"You stated that you had come on a mission vital to both our peoples. Explain yourself."

Taking care to keep the Klingons from seeing the relief he was feeling that the first, and most dangerous hurdle of his mission seemed to have been overcome, Jim started to speak once again, following the strategy he and Nyota had spent so long formulating the previous night.

"Chancellor Kravell, a recent attempt was made by the Romulans to launch an attack upon my vessel." Jim began.

"We are aware of the incident." The chancellor stated simply.

"Yes, I figured you would be." For the first time since the beginning of the meeting, the Chancellor seemed surprised by what Kirk had said. "Your intelligence services would have to be drooling their desks to ruin in their sleep to not be aware. In my experience it's only following a good after-battle feast that most Klingons get quite that drunk."

The chancellor let out a hearty guffaw, which Kirk took as a good sign.

"I take it then, you are also aware of the cowardly tactics utilized by the Romulan attackers possessing a technology previously thought experimental at best?"

"The cloaking device, yes we are aware."

"Chancellor, I'll be frank. I'm here to persuade your government to establish an alliance with the Federation, at least against the threat of the Romulans."

A much less welcome belly laugh greeted Kirk's words. Once Ja'rod calmed down, he began to speak.

"So, you humans are so afraid of battle that you attempt to persuade real warriors to do all your fighting for you?"

Kirk narrowed his eyes. This guy was really getting to be a pain in the rear. He needed to knock him down a peg or two, and he needed to do it now.

"I'd expect such a response from the half-wit you've proven yourself to be in just this short conversation. If you please, I'm speaking to the adults in the room."

The grin slid off Ja'rod's face like an egg at the round of laughter reverberating throughout the hall. As the chancellor's own laughter died down, he spoke up.

"Assessments of character aside Captain, why should the Klingon Empire care about the assault on your vessel, cowardly as its execution may have been?"

"You shouldn't." The entire council was looking at him in confusion. "You should care about what it represents. Aside from isolated incidents, the Romulans have lain behind their border since the end of their war with Earth a century ago. For them to come out in force in so brazen a manner as an attack on the Federation flagship deep within our territory? They're gearing up for war."

"That may be," interrupted a councilor at the table on Kirk's left, "but why should the Klingon Empire be anything but delighted at the idea of a war between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire?"

"Because the very same reason the Romulans would choose to attack now of all times would apply to you as well."

"Oh? It seems to me the reason would be their new cloaking device." responded the councilor.

"The cloaking device may provide a tactical advantage, but not enough of one, especially since it is not perfected yet." This statement got attention from all over the council.

"Explain." Commanded Kravell.

"Prior to the attack on the _Enterprise_, my science officer detected trace readings consistent with 1 or more ships shadowing us. As we were unaware of the cloaking device, we weren't sure what to make of it. But now we know what it meant. If their cloaking device is still unable to keep a ship completely hidden closer than a certain distance, then the time to strike solely based on that advantage would not be now. No, the Romulans are coming for another reason, and that reason has a name."

The chancellor narrowed his eyes, realizing where Kirk was going.

"Nero." He spat.

Kirk nodded. "Nero. The Romulan government may not have been behind Nero's attack, but they know the _Narada_ tore a large chunk out of both of our fleets. That's why this is the perfect time for them to attack, before we have a chance to build our fleet levels back up again. The Romulans have been at odds with you since before either of your worlds knew Earth existed, never mind the founding of the Federation. They'll be coming after both of us. The enemy of my enemy…"

"… is still my enemy but may be useful." The chancellor finished the Klingon version of the aphorism. "You demonstrate an admirable knowledge of Kahless's teachings, Captain."

"I find a great deal of wisdom in much of his work, although in this case I actually prefer the human version of that particular aphorism, which is similar but slightly different." The chancellor inclined his head for the Captain to continue. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

The chancellor's eyes narrowed. "We are enemies, Captain."

"We _have_ _been_, Chancellor. Past tense. Personally, I believe that much of that enmity is based on misunderstanding. I do not want to be an enemy of the Klingon Empire. There is much I admire in what I know of your culture, and I'd love to learn more. I genuinely believe there is a basis for friendship between our two peoples."

"Pfagh. A Federation of weaklings?" scoffed a councilor on Kirk's right.

"Really?" Kirk responded with a skeptical eyebrow, advancing toward the right-hand table to get in this particular councilor's face. "If the Federation is so weak, why haven't you conquered it yet?"

"We simply have not taken the time yet."

Kirk threw his head back and laughed. "Really. You haven't taken the time? You've had a century. You guys must be really slow." The councilor opened his mouth to speak but Kirk cut him off, turning away from him and moving away to stand between the two tables of councilors, closer to the chancellor than before. "No, I think it's something else. Oh I'm sure in the beginning you just figured you'd get around to it later, but that came back to bite you in the butt, didn't it? For two hundred years the only force large enough to oppose you directly was the Romulans, and you were in a constant state of long on and briefly off war with them. The other civilizations at the time? You could've taken the Andorians, although you'd have had a heck of a fight. The Tellarites would never have stood a chance against you. You could've probably even taken the Vulcans, although that would've required so much force that the Romulans would've had easy pickings of what was left. When the Federation was formed, you were just like all the others, expecting it to collapse pretty soon, or at least never grow beyond its internal squabbling into a credible threat to your expansion. But that didn't happen. Not only did the Federation not collapse, it _thrived_. You, the Romulans, and the Vulcans had needed centuries to build your fleets up to where they were. But despite much of Vulcan's fleet going out of commission, the Federation was able to match your fleet capabilities within twenty years. Don't start believing your own propaganda, it's one of the most dangerous mistakes a government can make. You didn't not conquer us because we were weaklings who you could wait until you simply got around to it. You didn't conquer us because it became apparent very quickly that we weren't going to go down easily, if at all."

The council regarded him in silence for a moment before another councilor to Kirk's left spoke.

"This may be true, Captain," he said, ignoring the looks of outrage from several others, "but respect for your strength is not enough of a basis to build a friendship."

"You are very wise, councilor. No it's not. That's why I'm here. To build that basis."

"How?"

"What is it about the Federation which keeps you from contemplating a friendship with them?"

Another councilor on the right spoke up. "You sew for peace at every turn. You shirk from battle."

Kirk turned to address his latest challenger. "When a battle comes to us, we take up arms and fight to our last breath. We do not run from a fight. We sew for peace because that is where our passion lies. As much as your people find glory and fulfillment in battle, we find it in learning knowledge we didn't know before, in meeting and befriending people we've never met. That is our glorious victory."

Several councilors looked thoughtful, although a majority were clearly still skeptical. Kirk held his hands out and looked around. "What else?"

"You heal the sick, defend the weak," came another voice from the left.

"Let me ask you something," Jim said, turning as always to face his challenger. "Your farmers. They don't usually take up arms in battle. Are they weak?"

Cries of outrage filled the hall before being stifled by the chancellor's heavy cane. The councilor Kirk faced bit out, "NO THEY ARE NOT! They take upon themselves the duty of feeding the empire!"

Kirk nodded. "And for that they are accorded a place of honor in your society."

"YES!" the counselor shouted back, spittle flying every which way.

"So it's possible for those who do not do battle to be treated with honor anyway because their strength lies in a different area?" Kirk asked with his patented 'I'm-so-innocent' expression. The councilor opened his mouth to reply only to freeze as his brain managed to catch up with the trap he'd been maneuvered into. He, along with a fair number of others on the council, just stared at Kirk dumbly, as if they weren't quite sure what to make of him.

Jim nodded, taking the momentum he'd just been given and running with it. "In our society everyone has their own kind of strength, their own kind of honor. Nobody is treated as having less strength for being weaker in another area. Do we heal the sick? Yes. Because sickness is not a weakness. Sickness is a battle fought by a person's body against an invader, simply one he can't see consciously. Would you consider a warrior weak for being killed in battle because he didn't have his _Bat'leth_?" Kirk asked addressing his question to the councilor who had made the comment about the weak and injured.

"No," the councilor replied weakly still gazing at the Captain as though he'd never seen anything of the like.

"And yet you would call a person who was killed by a disease weak because his body didn't have the tools to defeat the invaders."

The silence of the hall seemed to be thicker than the last time Jim had stopped speaking, even though the noise was exactly the same.

"Anything else?"

"Your _democracy_." The spat-upon word came from the table on Kirk's right, which he was beginning to see as being some sort of delineation of which side was more inclined to agree with him, although he could see a few thoughtful faces at that table as well. "You allow your common man a say in the business of government. You ask everyone their opinions and mewl to their nonsensical whims instead of taking action."

Jim laughed. "That's one way of looking at it I suppose."

The criticizer sneered. "Weakness."

Jim sneered right on back. "Better than cowardice."

There went that uproar again. The cane came down, but this time the Chancellor followed it with words.

"Tread carefully, Captain. There is a limit to our tolerance."

"I understand that, Chancellor," Jim replied, hoping against hope he was doing the right thing and not signing his and Nyota's death warrants with this strategy, but if he wanted to convince the Klingons that they wouldn't start gagging if they wound up in the same room as democracy, he was going to have to take extreme measures. "But you asked me to tell you why the Federation wasn't what you think it is, why we are worth allying with, and this is my answer. Yes, our way is messy. It caters to the common man. We try to take their opinions and needs into account. But that is the way of true strength. You sneer at diplomats because they try to avoid battle, but the truth is that diplomats fight the hardest battles there are! When you don't like what somebody says, when you say 'he's wrong, I'm right, it should be done my way', you just try to kill him and have done with it. Does that prove that you were right, that it was truly you who had the wisdom in your disagreement? No. It's the coward's way out. We sit down and fight that battle of showing the other person why we were right and they were wrong. It is a long, hard road, because we have to overcome the preconceived notion the other person has and counter his argument. We have to prove our opinions, because they themselves are tested. We think that everyone deserves that chance, and so we give it to them in the most efficient manner we can devise. Democracy. Now, don't get me wrong, it has its faults. But we're constantly trying to change it to make it better. It's the much harder way to go, but courage is about choosing the harder, more correct path. It's the only path our honor will allow us to take."

Jim held his breath. This wasn't a council of idiots. Jim's argument was rather simplistic and he knew it, but he also knew that the Klingons had made their opinions of the Federation based on their view of democracy from the outside. Framing it in this manner might appeal more to them. It was their only shot. No words were spoken for a moment. The entire council was still, hopefully considering Jim's words. Then a wizened old Klingon in the chair closest to the chancellor from the table on Kirk's left, the same one who'd previously questioned Kirk on the basis for friendship being strength, spoke up, and the tone of his voice belied the aggression his words seemed to convey.

"What of the famed Federation arrogance?" The entire hall swiveled to regard either Jim or this councilor, and Kirk immediately knew this would be one of the most important questions of all he would answer today, if only because of the one who asked it.

"Arrogance?" Jim replied, unsure of what the man was referring to.

"You claim to know what is best for all others in the galaxy at all times, and then become aggressive if your beliefs are contradicted. Your 'Prime Directive'."

Kirk nodded thoughtfully, believing he understood what this Klingon was talking about. Of all the possible questions he had expected, this was very much not one of them. But thanks to his own crisis of faith, he had an answer, and he said a silent thanks to Spock for helping him come to this conclusion.

"Councilor…?" Kirk asked, trying to show that he had recognized that this was clearly someone of particular importance and respect.

"Gaj'bok." Was the simple answer.

"Councilor Gaj'bok, let me start by saying that I completely understand where you're coming from. Several months ago, actually right before the incident with Khan and Admiral Marcus, there was an incident on a planet called Nibiru where I disregarded the Prime Directive during a crisis. Almost lost my command as a result. Now I don't necessarily regret my decision, seeing as it saved my first officer's life, but I do know that I didn't take the Prime Directive as seriously as I should have when I was making the decision, and the reason for that was pretty much the same as what you just expressed.

I felt that the Prime Directive didn't matter that much. It was just another rule made by people higher up who thought they knew everything. But I spoke with my first officer about the incident and the Prime Directive itself later, and I finally came to understand.

You see, we've seen examples throughout our history where species were introduced to life beyond their planet too soon, and it caused tremendous damage to their culture. A crewman on Earth's first long range starship once accidentally had his communicator taken from him on an undercover mission to a less-developed planet and it set in motion a chain of events which led to a fifty year-long world war. Even your own people, were seriously changed when you were invaded by the Hur'q all those centuries ago."

"We survived the Hur'q and pushed our way back into the stars!" snarled one more councilor on the right.

Kirk whipped his head around to face him. "Yes, but you lost a lot of your own culture in the process! Who knows how Klingon society might have developed had the Hur'q never showed up? There is so much that was potentially missed out on because your culture had not yet reached the point where it could avoid being radically altered by the exposure."

"So you therefore claim to know when everyone is ready?" Gaj'bok interrupted.

"That was my first reaction as well, until I had a few things pointed out to me, and I realized that the Prime Directive is not arrogance. Quite the opposite. The Prime Directive is an admission of ignorance."

Several councilors broke out in whispers at Kirk's words, clearly not understanding.

"The Prime Directive limits contact with another society prior to its development of warp technology. But how can it be possible that a particular technological achievement can consistently be a particular step in a sociological process? The light bulb is invented at many different points in the evolution of many different cultures. Why is warp drive any different?

The answer is that it isn't. The truth of the matter is that the Federation is operating under one of the most important concepts in both science and wisdom- the admission of ignorance. The Federation has absolutely no idea how to measure whether or not a culture is prepared for contact with another civilization. But we know from painful experience that any kind of interference too early can be disastrous. Warp drive is not an indication that a society is ready for contact, it is the demarcation where a society says 'ready or not, here we come'. Once a society has warp drive, they're going to meet another species in relatively short order. At that point, there is nothing to lose from making contact, and as I said earlier, making first contact with any other species is one of the highest honors in our society."

Gaj'bok studied Kirk closely for a moment before letting out an approving grunt. The council proceeded to break into whispers yet again, although they were far more thoughtful than before.

Nyota Uhura stared at the man addressing the council, her captain, her boyfriend. She'd learned that he was far more than the way he'd been acting when they'd met, that there were hidden complexities lying behind that suave smile. That was why she'd been willing to pursue a relationship with him. But this, this was something different. Not only was he a far more caring and wounded soul, he was also a growing one. He was learning from what life had to teach him, even if he sometimes acted as though he'd never moved past the middle of adolescence. He was gaining wisdom, and the thought made her heart swell with affection and pride.

Chancellor Kravell got up out of his throne and addressed Kirk, and his thoughtful expression gave both humans hope for their immediate life expectancies, if nothing else.

"Captain, we will require time to discuss all that you have said. If you will leave for-"

"**BOOM!"**

A sudden flash, blistering heat, intense pain….

Then nothing.

**Feel free to PM or review. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Constructive criticism is always welcome. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello all! Sorry for the delay, hopefully now that I'm done with my classes for the summer I'll be able to start getting out updates much quicker. And thank you so much for the wonderful reviews to last chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Star Trek in any way shape or form, no matter what I may have told myself in Kindergarten.**

Spock was the eye of the storm that was the _Enterprise_ bridge at that moment, his placid features contrasting starkly to the tension of the crew around him. Only a handful of those present could detect the betrayal of his calm demeanor in the tightness of his grip on the armrests of the Captain's chair, and it made those few tenser than the caged Georgian tiger pacing back and forth behind the Vulcan.

"We should've heard something by now!" McCoy broke out.

Spock turned the chair to regard the doctor with the patience that can only be displayed by a child of Vulcan. "Doctor, according to my calculations the landing party can only have entered the Great Hall within the last 26.7 minutes. Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura are indeed persuasive, but it is hard to believe even they could accomplish their task within such a time frame. Had we received any communication at this point in time, it most likely would indicate the failure of their mission, an outcome which would in all likelihood prove fatal."

"In other words, no news is good news?"

"I believe I said that, Doctor."

McCoy threw his hands up in exasperation and continued pacing. Spock had considered ordering the doctor off the bridge, yet he could not bring himself to do so. He was quite aware that McCoy felt the need to be present so as to receive any information regarding the landing party as soon as physically possible, and he was finding it difficult to interfere with the wish. Further reflection revealed that as illogical as it seemed, some quiet part of Spock's psyche drew a small element of comfort from the doctor's presence and actions, as though the his method for relieving his own tension was channeling some of the tension present within Spock himself, and possibly the rest of the bridge crew as well.

Clearly Spock would require a great deal of meditation this evening.

As Spock turned away from the doctor back toward the viewscreen, he noted the presence of the relief officer at the navigation console. Having not seen Ensign Chekov's departure during his short exchange with Dr. McCoy, Spock cast a short glance around the bridge and spotted the young Russian conversing quietly with Dr. Marcus at her position manning Spock's science station. For a brief moment Spock entertained the notion of reprimanding the ensign for leaving his post to converse with another officer while the ship was in hostile space, but the thought fled his mind as quickly as it had come when he noticed Marcus nodding at whatever Chekov was saying and making adjustments to the sensor controls.

"Mr. Chekov?" The Vulcan asked, clearly conveying his wish to know what was taking place.

Both of the blonds turned to regard their commanding officer before Marcus signaled for Chekov to answer the question.

"Sir, during my sensor scans of the surrounding space, I noted a strange echo on our long range scanners coming from a position near one of the moons around Qo'nos. I asked Dr. Marcus to run a diagnostic on her instruments to make certain it wasn't a sensor error."

Spock nodded and opened his mouth to reply before a ping from the console turned all 3 of the heads around to look at it.

"All systems appear operational, Mr. Spock. Whatever this is, it's not an instrument problem." Marcus reported.

"Are there any indications as to what it actually is, Doctor?" the Vulcan replied.

"It's hard to tell with any accuracy, sir. We're still quite a distance from Qo'nos, and the moon in question is on the far side of the planet from us. The distance and the planet combined with the fact that the reading is on the other side of the moon for the most part, is making a clear reading quite difficult."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Commence a full analysis, Doctor. Report on your results as soon as possible."

Marcus nodded and bent over her instruments. As Chekov returned to his station with a nod from Spock, the eyebrow remained in its raised position as Spock pondered the strange conflux of thoughts which had begun running rampant through his mind at the report. Was this what Captain Kirk commonly referred to as a gut feeling?

Sounds returned to Nyota first. She could make out faint rustling and low, growling voices. Her nose twitched as she identified the rusty smell of old metal as well the uniquely characteristic odor of Klingons. She then felt a hand grip her shoulder and opened her eyes to look into a familiar pair of deep blue ones.

"Lieutenant? You all right?" Jim's ability to mask the concern in his voice was impressive; she would never have noticed were it not for the combination of her trained ear and how well she knew his inflections.

"Fine, sir." Nyota replied with a brief nod of reassurance before casting a glance around at their surroundings. The two sat in large bare room with walls of plain but tarnished metal which spoke of great age. The only part of the room that belied the feeling of little to know recent work was the forcefield forming the fourth wall and looking out into a stone corridor. Aside from them seated around the room were a number of Klingons Nyota recognized from the meeting with the high council, including the chancellor himself. Confused, she turned back to Jim.

"What happened?"

Jim grimaced. "Near as we can figure there was some kind of explosion in the Great Hall. The chancellor says this is an old holding cell deep beneath the hall. As for why we're here or why he and more of the council are here with us, my guess is this is some sort of coup."

"How perceptive of you, Captain."

Everyone in the cell turned toward the entrance of the cell. The Chancellor growled menacingly as he saw the figure of Ja'rod standing just outside the forcefield smirking at them.

"Ja'rod." Chancellor Kravell ground out.

"Kravell." Ja'rod acknowledged with a mocking nod.

"That's Chancellor to you, Ja'rod!"

"Not anymore."

Seeing the look on the Chancellor's face, Jim decided to intervene before he found himself trapped in an enclosed space with a murderous Klingon whose target was on the other side of a forcefield.

"What are we doing here, Ja'rod?"

The traitorous councilor turned his smirk on the human. "It's really quite simple, Captain. You came here to assassinate the high council. When your bomb failed to do the job fully, you decided to finish off as many as you could yourself, starting with our esteemed chancellor. His replacement will lead the grieving fury of the empire into battle against the Federation to avenge his death."

More growls sounded from the Klingons with Kirk, but something sounded off to him. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just kill the chancellor and us with your bomb?"

A brief flicker in Ja'rod's eyes told Kirk that he'd struck a point, and he started snickering in hopes of provoking more information. "You were trying to do just that, weren't you? You couldn't even get a bomb to kill the right people!"

Ja'rod blew up at the accusation. "I can kill whomever I want, whenever I want! If I didn't need your pathetic human hide, the blast would've been more than enough to kill you all!" He shouted.

Kirk stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes. "And just what did you need with my pathetic hide?"

"He didn't." came another voice as a man stepped into view next to Ja'rod. "I did."

Kirk raised his eyebrows as the Klingons with him started growling again.

"Traitor!" shouted one councilor. "You consort with Romulans to murder your own chancellor! You honorless _Pe'taq_!"

Ja'rod snorted. "You accuse me of having no honor? You who would consort with the dogs of the Federation? The Romulans are strong, and together the galaxy will tremble before our might! That will be the honor of all the Klingon people."

Uhura chose that moment to break in again. "That explains the coward," Uhura began, nodding towards Ja'rod to approving grunts from those around her and a growl from Ja'rod, "but it doesn't explain what you want with Captain Kirk?" she said to the Romulan wearing what she recognized as the rank insignia of an Admiral.

The Admiral smiled, a sight Uhura did not find herself fond of. "The Federation will never stand against the combined might of the Romulan Star Empire and the Klingons (Uhura noticed the subtle derision of the Klingons but it seemed Ja'rod didn't) but think how much quicker the war will end with the knowledge of a Starfleet Captain."

Jim snorted in the Romulan's face. "I'll never tell you anything."

Uhura had an extremely ominous feeling from the smirk directed at her Captain. "Who said I will be the one asking the questions, Kirk?" he said motioning to someone still out of sight of the prisoners.

Another man stepped into view. Uhura was astonished to be looking at a human with salt and pepper hair and beard, but her surprise quickly gave way to the ominous feeling at the sharp intake of breath from Jim, to be replaced with horror from the single word he said.

"Kodos." Jim breathed out in a stupefied whisper.


	6. Chapter 6

**I can't express my thanks enough for the people who sent me messages about continuing this story. Know that I never had any intention of abandoning it. But please please review! It's the lifeblood of the writing process.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own **_**Star Trek**_

Spock's quiet contemplation of the various scenarios possibly facing the landing party was cut off by the blaring of an alarm from the helm. Sulu's head snapped to the offending panel before his sharp voice cut through the tense bridge.

"Sir, the _Muk'tong_ is locking disruptors on us!"

"Red Alert." Spock's calm tone belied the urgency with which the crew snapped to their stations as the klaxons began to blare.

"Shall I arm Phasers, sir?" Chekov asked from his Navigation station.

"Negative. Maintain maximum shields but keep weapons offline until I order otherwise. Lieutenant Palmer," Spock turned to Uhura's second-in-command who currently manned the Comm station, "hail the Klingon vessel."

The tall blond officer worked her panel for a moment before turning back to Spock.

"I have them, sir."

Spock rose from the command chair as the view of the Klingon Battlecruiser was overshadowed by the image of its apparently extremely angry commander.

"Captain Kang, our agreement stipulated that you would not arm your weapons."

Even the emotionally untrained Vulcan eye was quite able to discern the increasing signs of anger on the Klingon's face.

"You dare to continue to claim the rights provided by our agreement after your cowardly attack!?"

Spock was somehow oddly cognizant at that moment of the fact that were he fully human there would most likely be a chill going down his spine at that moment.

"To what attack are you referring, Captain?"

"To think we considered allying ourselves with those that would deal in such treachery as to come in under a flag of truce carrying a bomb and then deny it!"

The entire crew tensed at the pronouncement. Spock swiftly moved around the helm to stand before the viewscreen, locking gazes with Kang. Despite the burning urge to inquire regarding the welfare of the captain and Lieutenant Uhura, Spock knew the Klingon would give no answers unless he could be convinced of their innocence.

"Captain Kang, our landing party carried no explosive device."

"So the explosion within the Great Hall was our imagination?!"

"I did not say that, Captain. But consider this: you posit that Starfleet Command sent their flagship to certain destruction in order to attack your world. They did so using the pretense of resolving a dispute which began because that same ship was sent on a mission to attack your world with impunity. Why not simply do the same once more if our intention was hostile?"

The bridge seemed to be collectively holding their breath as Kang stopped short and actually appeared to consider Spock's words.

"Mr. Spock!"

Spock's sharp rebuke at Dr. Marcus's choice to interrupt at this critical juncture died on his lips at the next word out of the blond scientist's mouth.

"Romulans!"

The heads of both commanders snapped around to her.

"Please specify, Dr. Marcus."

"The reading we picked up from behind the Klingon moon. My analysis indicates it is the same one we detected from the cloaked Romulan ships shadowing us, only significantly more intense."

Spock's eyebrow raised at the last part of her report. "More intense?"

"Probably meaning quite a few more of them."

Both eyebrows were up now. "Dr. Marcus, the _Enterprise _was accosted by three Romulan ships at the time. Are you suggesting a significantly larger force is currently hiding behind one of Qo'nos's moons?"

"Yes, sir."

Spock studied the woman for a moment. Though the very beginning of their professional interaction had been somewhat tense, Spock had come to respect her skill and attention to detail. If Carol Marcus was that confident there were Romulans hiding behind that moon, Spock did not believe it would be a wise financial decision to wager that there were none. Still, he wasn't the only one who needed convincing….

"Doctor, send your sensor readings to the _Muk'tong _for their science officer to verify."

Marcus nodded, working her controls. Spock turned back toward the viewscreen where Kang was currently conferring with an officer out of visual range. Apparently satisfied with whatever the officer had said, he turned back.

"Very well, Vulcan. We will go see if these ghosts of yours are real. You are to remain here. _Under no circumstances _leave this area. If you do, I will order the Imperial fleet to destroy you on sight. If there are _Romulus'ngan_ out there, we will handle them. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly."

Kang nodded to an officer on his bridge and the transmission cut out, the screen becoming dominated by the view of the Klingon Warship turning and thrusting away at high impulse. Spock turned away from the screen and headed back to the command chair, where Dr. McCoy was waiting.

"That's it!? What about Jim and Uhura down on the planet? He said they were in some kind of explosion! We have to something for them!"

Spock stopped short just in front of the chair and met the angry Georgians gaze with his own. "Doctor, what precisely would you suggest we do? At this point the Klingons have every reason to distrust us. All of the circumstantial evidence would seem to indicate we are responsible for an attack on their high council, and they have only our word for the significance of those sensor readings. We are deep in Klingon territory. Should we make any attempt to launch a rescue effort I have no doubt the Klingons would immediately destroy us. If you have another suggestion I would welcome it."

McCoy opened his mouth to retort, but something held him back as he and Spock stared each other down. He finally nodded gruffly and turned to glare at the viewscreen. Spock meanwhile sat down in the Captain's chair. Had it been anyone aboard other than three particular people, two of whom were currently missing in hostile territory, Spock would have been disturbed that they had been able to read what he knew McCoy had read in his eyes.

For the doctor had stopped his argument upon seeing that outward behavior to the contrary, Spock was just as worried and even more helpless than he was. For despite having all the power of this great starship at his disposal, there was absolutely nothing Spock could do for his missing friends.

* * *

Jim's entire being burned with hatred as he gazed upon the tormentor from his youth, the monster who'd stomped on the last vestiges of his childhood and snuffed them out violently.

"What are you doing here?" he finally spat.

The man had the audacity to grin.

"Come now, JT. Don't you mean what am I doing still alive?"

"I figured I'd save that part for later. Wanted to keep it fresh in my memory so I'd know how to make sure you stayed dead next time."

Kodos the Executioner threw his head back and laughed. The sound was not pleasant.

"Still the same old JT. I remember how stubborn and headstrong you used to be, and apparently still are." Kodos turned to address the other occupants of the holding cell "Did you know that for three days he refused to scream? Nothing I did to him, not the whip, not the phaser burning, nothing could get a peep out of him. Eventually I managed to break that little slice of resistance out of him, of course, but still… it was quite something for anyone, but a malnourished fourteen-year old? Quite impressive indeed."

Uhura had to clamp her teeth down hard to keep from making a sound. She knew it was the last thing Jim needed right now. But… ever since she'd heard about the incident in the mess hall, had put together that Jim was actually the famed to the point of quasi-mythical survivor JT, she had firmly instructed her mind NOT, under any circumstances to replay any of the rumors that had floated around the campus when the story had been discussed following history classes at the academy. Some of the hearsay had been enough for her to lose her lunch, and then to learn that it had been Jim… And now to hear this monster talk about it like he was telling amusing anecdotes about a friend he'd lost touch with… she couldn't decide if her first desire was to hold Jim in her arms or to rip this perversion of humanity limb from limb. With her bare hands. Slowly.

"So JT, you are now a trained Starfleet officer. That being said, I have many new toys to try. Tell me, how long do you think it'll take?"

"Longer than you still have left to breathe." Jim spat. "Besides, why even bother to torture me now? It's not like I still have the locations of innocent children hiding in the forest from your death squads."

"True, true." Kodos waved a hand as if dismissing his point. "But you do know some things my new friends here are very interested in."

Both officers' blood froze. As the Captain of the Federation flagship, Jim was privy to a large amount of classified material which would be extraordinarily beneficial to the Romulans in the coming war.

"It'll never happen, Kodos."

"We'll see, JT. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some arrangements to make before our proper reunion can begin."

With that, the mass murderer turned and leisurely walked away, whistling as he went.

* * *

Less than an hour ago the tension on the bridge had been palpable. There was no word to describe it now. Every station that had a link to the sensors was practically buckling under the intensity of the stares it was receiving. Mr. Scott could be plainly heard at his Engineering board swearing in his native tongue at the sensors' refusal to tighten their focus any further. And in the midst of this hurricane of activity sat Spock, watching and waiting with inhuman patience. And even that was becoming strained.

"Mr. Spock!" The entire crew snapped around to Marcus, several necks cracking. "The _Muk'tong _has revealed a large number of Romulan vessels. They are engaging the Klingon forces."

"Over the Klingon homeworld! Are they daft?!"

"They are not 'daft', Mr. Scott. The Romulans have been waiting here for quite some time. Mr. Chekov please look for any inconsistencies in the battle area which may skew the likelihood of victory in favor of the Romulan forces."

It took the Russian less than a minute to spot it. Admittedly, it was a rather gaping problem.

"Meester Spock, ze Klingon planetary defenses are not actiwating!"

Silence filled the bridge as the implications of Chekov's report sunk in.

"Mr. Sulu, given the tactical situation, what is the likelihood of the Klingon defenses successfully repelling the Romulan offensive?"

Sulu took one more glance at his display as though hoping he'd see something which had miraculously changed drastically since his last look. Apparently disappointed, he turned wearily to look at his commanding officer.

"Sir, the Klingon fleet has been spread extremely thin ever since the losses inflicted by the _Narada_. Qo'nos has extremely heavy planetary defenses, so the Klingons have only been keeping a handful of warships in the system at any one time. With the defense grid down, the Klingons are outnumbered and outgunned. They don't stand a chance, sir."

All eyes on the bridge swiveled to Spock in the silence that followed.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's give them a hand!" McCoy was the first to blurt out.

"It's not that simple, Doctor. Captain Kang ordered us not to move under any circumstances-"

"You think he might change his tune if we're moving to, oh I don't know, ride to his rescue?" McCoy cut Sulu off sarcastically.

"On the contrary Dr. McCoy. Given the nature of Klingon pride and honor codes, it is very possible Captain Kang will find that to be an even more grievous offense than if we were to simply flee."

McCoy looked at Spock like he'd sprouted a second head.

"You mean the Klingons might actually get insulted enough to fire on us for trying to help them!?"

"There is historical precedent for such a reaction from a Klingon military commander."

"But, sir!" Scotty broke in. "Jim and Nyota are down there!"

"Ve hope." Chekov replied softly.

The melancholy from the normally upbeat young navigator did little to soothe the bridge crew as they turned back toward the center seat.

"Well what happens if the Romulans win, huh?" McCoy demanded. "Then we have to deal with them, and they'll definitely be angry at us!"

"Maybe," Sulu replied, looking almost queasy at the thought of what he was about to say, "but the Romulans will be busy securing the planet, and in the chaos of a Romulan takeover of the homeworld, we might have a chance to make a run past the Klingon fleet for Federation space."

"Leave zem behind!?" Chekov gasped.

"It won't help them if we end up getting ourselves killed in an attempt to save them, whether the attempt succeeds or not." Sulu responded helplessly.

Spock sat there, staring at the viewscreen, his mind furiously reviewing all of the factors of the situation, one small corner idly wondering if this was anything remotely like what Jim had experienced making the decision to go back for him on Nibiru.

Meanwhile the crew just stood there in silence, watching the Vulcan. Waiting for the decision that might spell their deaths, the deaths of their friends, the death of a world, or all of the above.

* * *

Jim and Nyota sat in the holding cell, each deep in their own thoughts. They had explained to the councilors who Kodos was, how he had been the governor of a colony world, how he had poisoned the food source in order to implement a eugenics initiative which began with ordering the execution of half of the colony's Eight Thousand strong population. How Kirk had been the leader of a small group of children who had escaped the purge and stayed hidden for weeks until Starfleet had arrived. The rest they could figure out from the conversation between Kodos and the captain. A copious amount of growling had followed, but the councilors seemed to sense that Jim needed a moment of peace just then and apparently had gained enough respect for him, either from his speech in the council chamber or this new information about his past, to oblige.

Nyota was trying as hard as she could to keep her thoughts from wandering to what might be facing Jim. She wanted to do something to comfort him through the gut-wrenching revelation of Kodos' continued existence and his control of their captivity, but she knew that in this situation it was just too dangerous. The lunatic she had just met seemed to want desperately to break Jim's spirit, and if he even suspected that Jim had feelings for her, he would try to use that against his intended victim.

Had Uhura been able to hear Jim's thoughts at that moment though, she might have found herself surprised. Jim was angry and afraid to be sure, but the shock she would've anticipated was simply not there.

When Jim had first heard that Kodos had been killed after he woke up on a Starfleet hospital ship, he was elated. The one time in his life he had ever been truly happy to hear of another being's death. But then he had asked how, and they had told him about the intentional destruction of the compound and the body they had found burned to a crisp but with identifiable markings. His bubble of bliss had burst to be replaced with a terrible foreboding.

Jim had spent days in Kodos' dungeon being interrogated for the location of the children he had been caring for. If there was one thing he had learned, it was the truly unfathomable size of the man's ego. Kodos believed he was the key to the future of humanity, and he never would've killed himself. And now to hear that the body wasn't easily identified? No, that was too convenient. He had tried to tell the officers on the ship, but nobody had listened, assuming him to be a teenager in shock from a traumatic experience. But Jim had known. He'd felt it in his bones. The monster hadn't been slain, it had simply retreated into the darkness. And nobody had been willing to _listen_.

Jim had kept his ears open for any hint of the man's whereabouts, but he'd had nothing to work with for the first few years. One of the deciding factors in his decision to accept Pike's offer to go to Starfleet was the possibility of being able to do something, but even with the resources of being a hero turned Captain, it had been too long. There was no sign of him anywhere.

Until now.

Now Kodos was back. And he was working with the Romulans. That was the one thing that surprised Jim. Kodos had always been obsessed with what he saw as the future glory of the human race, and helping the Romulans conquer it? Didn't sound very glorious, not even from Kodos' twisted perspective. So what was he up to?

At that moment, everyone looked up as the forcefield shut off. Two Romulans stood there with disruptor pistols at the ready, with the two guards who had already been on duty maintaining their position flanking the opening.

"Get up, Kirk."

Jim's mind raced as he took in the situation. They weren't in the best position, but this was likely to be the only shot they had, and they did have a slight advantage.

Jim curled up on the ground, grabbing his boots to pull his legs in until his knees were hugging his chest and gave the Romulan who had spoken the patented condescending smirk which tended to drive most recipients to the point of murder.

"I'm good here, thanks."

The guard was startled for a moment before narrowing his eyes, hands tensing over the butt of his pistol. But rather than using it, he simply took a moment to calm himself before gesturing to his companion. The two stepped forward menacingly, both pistols pointed at Jim's head.

"On second thought, I might be more comfortable standing up."

Jim slowly got to his feet, silently hoping his girlfriend had gotten the message, but he trusted her enough to be pretty confident. He pushed himself to his feet. The Romulans guarding him gestured with their pistols for him to start walking. Or at least they tried to.

They never finished the gesture because as soon as the muzzles were no longer pointed at him Kirk threw the knife in his left hand at the right-side guard still just outside the cell, catching him right in the neck. Kirk didn't stop to watch more than the flash of green blood as he threw his full weight forward at his two escorts, his left shoulder catching the disruptor pistol of one of them and knocking it away just before he barreled into the right-hand guard and threw them both back against the wall.

The left hand cell guard, being the only Romulan still possessing his weapon, attempted to bring it to bear as soon as he saw the commotion, but he stopped short at the knife which appeared in the right side of his abdomen, square in the location of the Romulan heart.

The escort who remained mostly unmolested spun toward where the flash of the knife had come from to be met by a vicious kick in the face courtesy of Uhura. He staggered backwards out of the cell, clutching his throbbing face for a moment before steadying himself to take in his opponent, squared off in front of him in a combat stance. He noticed his disruptor pistol lying on the ground in his peripheral vision, but chose not to go for it. It might give his opponent an advantage when he turned, and it was a Romulan man against a human woman. How hard could it be?

The poor fool would never find out just how stupid a mistake he had made.

It could be argued that his mistake as understandable. He had never heard of Lieutenant Nyota Uhura of the _Starship Enterprise_. Romulans were far stronger than humans, and the Romulan had a good six inches and fifty pounds on the enemy he faced. One could almost argue that his mistake could be forgiven.

However, the _other _mistake he made instantly labelled him as simply being too stupid to live.

After all, it was one thing to make a choice to not go for ones weapon when facing a tiny woman of a species three times weaker than his own. It was quite another to deliberately choose not to go for ones weapon when facing said woman backed up by a horde of angry Klingons just waiting to clear away the shock of the battle they had not been expecting.

With an angry war cry, the councilors surged into the fight. Being involved in Klingon politics, they had to be well prepared to defend themselves physically. Maybe not well enough to go up against a trained Romulan soldier one on one, but twelve on two? Much different story.

As they all stood over the bodies of the guards, the Chancellor turned to Kirk with an eyebrow raised in a manner that reminded the Captain disturbingly of his first officer.

"And just where did those knives come from, Captain?"

"Let's just say, I wasn't one hundred percent certain of the reception I would get from the high council."

Kravell's gaze turned distinctly wry. "And you thought to battle your way out of the Great Hall with a knife concealed in your boot?"

"Chancellor, I learned long ago the value of having a knife at the right time."

Kravell seemed to miss the bitter tone of harsh memories as he bellowed out a laugh. Uhura didn't.

Jim shook off the mood and bent to grab the discarded disruptor pistols, keeping one for myself and handing one to Uhura and the other two to be distributed amongst the Klingons.

"Now, I believe we have a madman to hunt down and a throne to reclaim?"

This provoked a feral grin from Kravell and several growls from behind him.

"Indeed we do, Captain."

With that, the party of two Starfleet officers and a dozen Klingon High Councilors stalked off down the hall, the positions of hunter and prey once more reversed. But this time things would be different. Kirk was determined on that.

After all, after fourteen years, he finally knew where to find his prey.


	7. Chapter 7

"My Lord, the _Jal'Vang_ has been destroyed!"

Kang pounded his fist on the arm of his command chair. The Klingon ships had been engaged in battle with the Romulans for over 10 minutes now. They had held them off, barely, but this was not going to last. They were outnumbered, trying to protect far too large an area, and all of their homefield advantage was gone with the inexplicable refusal of the orbital defenses to join the fight.

"Sir, Romulan ships are moving through the gap in our line left by the loss of the _Jal'vang_. Three of their smaller Birds-of-Prey are making for the planet."

Kang growled, knowing this was the signal of the beginning of their inevitable defeat.

"Break formation, pursuit course!" he snapped. "Order the other ships to close ranks and keep the Romulans away."

"Sir, the lines are dangerously thin. They cannot form up any closer."

"There is no other option. Do it!"

Had it come from any other of his crew than his wife and science officer, Mara, he probably would've bitten the officer's head off, more for telling him what he already knew than anything else, but what choice did they have? Allow the Romulans through to the planet? They had already landed a significant ground force before the Klingon ships had been able to consolidate their forces and blockade the planet. The last thing they needed was for the green-blooded invaders to gain aerial support.

The _Muk'Tong _peeled away from her position on the line and tore off, chasing the Romulan ships to the planet.

Kang studied the Birds-of-Prey on the viewscreen. The good news, it seemed was that the ships had not made it through the lines unscathed. There were clearly signs of damage on two of the three ships.

The bad news, for it seemed that today there could not go a moment without some, came from Mara's lips a moment later.

"My Lord, A Romulan Battleship slipped through the gap before the fleet could close ranks. They are pursuing us to the planet."

Kang gritted his teeth. It was going to be hard enough as it was to catch and destroy all three ships before they fired on the planet, especially since the _Muk'Tong _had not escaped the battle to this point unscathed either. The last thing they needed was having to deal with another ship of comparable firepower to their own.

"Sir, the Romulan vessels are locking weapons on Koratha!"

Kang leaped from his chair. The province of Koratha held the training grounds and command center for the ground troops assigned to Kronos. If that area fell to a torpedo barrage before the troops could deploy….

"Weapons Officer!"

"Still out of range."

"Sir, the Romulans are launching torpedoes!"

Kang watched helplessly as a fierce volley of torpedoes escaped the trio of ships ahead, heading for the planet. He growled low and deep in his throat, knowing there was absolutely nothing he could do but vow that those particular Romulans would not survive long to boast about their massacring the Klingon troops.

The torpedoes sped towards the planet, getting closer and closer to the atmosphere. Suddenly, Kang had to hold up his hands as a white flash preceded a massive explosion from where the torpedo volley had been.

"Science Officer, report!"

Mara consulted her instruments. "It appears that several torpedo detonations triggered the rest of the volley to explode, sir."

Kang couldn't believe his ears. Of all the crazy pieces of luck he'd ever seen on the field of battle….

"Are you saying one of those fools misarmed their torpedoes and it set off the rest?"

Mara shook her head. "No, sir. I am at a loss. There was a significant surge of energy which disrupted our sensors for a moment, but it almost seemed as if there were more torpedoes for a split second before they detonated."

Kang fixed his wife with an incredulous look. "An energy surge? More torpedoes? From where?"

Mara lifted her eyes from her instruments after another second of study and gestured with her head towards the screen. "I would guess from them."

Kang turned his head back to the screen. Though he would've rather swallowed his tongue than admit it, what he saw then had to be one of the most glorious sights of his life.

The flames and energetic wash from the torpedo explosions were parted by the majestic white form of the_ Enterprise_. The starship charged like an enraged animal, her forward phaser batteries bathing the Romulan ships in her fury. The fools were clearly taken off guard; there was no response as the first phaser volley savaged the smaller Birds-of-Prey.

"Where did they come from?!" Kang demanded, whipping his head back to Mara.

"It appears she jumped into Warp for just a few seconds, dropping out right in the path of the Romulan attack and launching a spread of her own torpedoes to counter it."

"I told the Vulcan to stay away!" Kang fumed, his battle rage momentarily redirecting at the _Enterprise_'s first officer.

"It would appear they didn't listen," Mara replied drily.

Kang glared at her, but she met his gaze steadily, completely unaffected. After a moment, her fierce gaze penetrated the haze of adrenaline and anger, and he grasped the message only she was capable of giving him. He looked back at the viewer. The first phaser volley appeared to have done its job well. The pair of Romulans cruisers that had borne significant battle damage were now floating jetsam. The remaining vessel was finally reacting, but with her torpedo batteries needing to reload following their aborted attack on Kang's homeworld, the Romulan's disruptors alone were insufficient for dealing significant damage to her far more powerful attacker before he too was destroyed. The starship turned away from the exploding Bird of Prey and towards the battle ranging behind the _Muk'Tong_.

Kang huffed slightly before speaking. "Well, it appears the Earthers will be assisting us after all. Helm, reverse course! Take us at the battlecruiser pursuing! Weapons Officer, Disruptors at ready! Death to the Romulans!"

* * *

Kirk and Uhura raced through the halls of the palace with their Klingon allies. They occasionally came across another Romulan or a Klingon who drew on them, but they were too surprised by the unexpected appearance of their captives to even get off a shot before going down. After several minutes, the group came to the destroyed remnants of the entry chamber where what was left of the front doors to the palace were located.

Kirk stopped for a moment and just stared. Romulan troops were in the streets, fighting viciously against the civilian population that seemed unwilling to simply let them stomp all over their home. Every which way he saw green flashes of disruptor fire, heard the energy weapons and the metallic clang of Klingon blades and the shouting. Bloodied bodies were piling up all over the capital city.

He felt the Chancellor move forward next to him. He said nothing, made none of the noises of rage and cries for vengeance coming from the rest of the councilors. He simply looked out at his people, fighting for their lives. Apparently feeling Jim's stare, the Chancellor turned to lock eyes with the Captain. In that moment, Kirk felt a greater connection with this alien man than he'd thought possible even minutes before.

His reflexes snapped his commandeered disruptor pistol around at the whine of a transporter beam. But instead of the green tint he knew to associate with Romulan transporters, or even the red shimmer of Klingon technology, he noted the distinctive, familiar swirling white pattern, settling itself into a full security squad from the _Enterprise_.

"Captain!" called out their leader, clearly relieved to see Kirk's face.

"Report, Mr. Hendorff."

"Sir, a Romulan fleet has launched an attack in orbit. The _Enterprise_ moved in to assist the Klingon defenses."

"Captain Kang agreed to that?"

Hendorff smiled wryly. "Technically, sir, he specifically ordered us not to interfere. We did anyway"

Kirk returned the smile tiredly. "Nice to see I'm not the only Captain Mr. Spock is willing to argue with. How's the battle going?"

The smile disappeared. "Not well, sir. The Romulans have us outnumbered, and for some reason the Klingon orbital defenses aren't firing."

Kirk's eyes widened. Without those defenses, against a large Romulan fleet, this would be a bloodbath.

The chancellor meanwhile, spat out a single word as though growling out a particularly ugly profanity.

"Ja'Rod."

"Would he really be so stupid as to sabotage his own defenses for the Romulans?" Uhura asked incredulously.

"I do not know if he did so himself or simply cleared the way for the Romulans to do it themselves, but either way, he must be responsible."

"Where is the closest place we could use to control the defenses from?" Kirk asked the chancellor.

"The High Command Tower, six blocks from here. We will see to it, Captain. You take your men. You have your own demon to slay here."

Kirk looked at the chancellor for a long moment and then turned his gaze back out at the burning streets. For a short moment, his mind returned to another set of streets burning, different flashes of phaser fire, other people screaming. And it hadn't ended after that one horrible day. It had been the start of weeks on the run, stealing and sometimes killing, doing whatever it took to keep the group of children in his charge alive, despite the fact that he was still basically a child himself.

As his mind refocused, a piece of his split focus latched onto one detail of the scene before him. Before his mind registered what he'd seen, his disruptor pistol was up and firing. On the street ahead, a Romulan who'd been just about to win the struggle with a young Klingon preteen that had jumped him fell to the ground, dead.

The others in the group looked at him while he stared at the pistol, putting together the pieces his mind had seen and understanding what he had unconsciously done, the choice he had made. He looked to Nyota, who saw in his eyes just what he was thinking. Her eyes took on a strange glint, almost like… pride. And in that moment, he knew his decision was right. He turned back to the chancellor.

"That bastard isn't worth one of your people, never mind all of them. He'll get what's coming to him, later. Which direction to the High Command Tower?"

The chancellor gazed at him searchingly for a long moment, before pointing at a building a short but still significant distance away, clearly visible given its significant height. Kirk nodded and turned back to the security team.

"Alright, boys and girls. Phasers to kill, they're not taking any prisoners out there; we can't afford to do so either. Take out any Romulans you see. Let's move."

With that Kirk turned and led the group out of the building, his charge onto the field of battle ironically signifying his choice of life over death.

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